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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. This team is going to take on the idea of this city. Looking, throwing, heads down, touchdown Detroit Lions.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. We're going to kick you in the teeth. We're going to be the last one standing. Good.
This team is all of those things. Earlier on the show, Commander's cornerback Mike Sanristil. Coming up, NFL Network insider Tom Pellicero. Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush. Actor Dave Annable.
And now it's Rich Eisen. That's right, Friday show, which means a lot to preview for the weekend, a lot to cover from last night. The Thursday night football game between the Lions and the Packers as advertised. Toughest division in football, toughest teams in football, high flying offenses, that also have some defenses that are performing very well. And the whole thing was just soup to nuts, a lot of fun to watch.
Hopefully you did it right here on the Roku portal through the Prime Video app. That was on Thursday night. Rest of the week, I've got my top five list of other games that I'm looking forward to.
It's a what's more likely Friday. Cooper Rush of the Dallas Cowboys is going to join us this hour. That's how the week is going to end in the Metroplex, when the Bengals and Cowboys have at it.
Joining us now though, my colleague from the NFL, Media Group. It's Tom Pelissero back here in his usual Friday spot. How you doing, Tommy P? Doing great. Rich, how are you? What's up to my boys in the studio? Tommy P! What's up, baby? Oh my God. We're hype.
It's my man's in them. What's up, Tom? Come on out.
So let's just jump right in with both feet here. And I understand there was a big game in the NFC North last night, but the Bears are sitting there going into San Francisco this weekend. Coaching job is open. I understand, you know, he's not usually a source for national sports news, but the Sports Talk Radio host in Chicago, Dan McNeil, saying that the Bears heard that Jim Harbaugh was interested in their job and wanted to get it. And they decided to just keep Matt Eberflus even upon hearing all of that. What's your reporting about the Bears coaching search then and now? Tom Pelissero.
What I would say, Rich, and this is me going back in my brain. I had not seen that that statement made, but I mean, I heard last September that Jim Harbaugh had told people, I think I'm going to be the Chargers head coach. So it's pretty apparent from very early on that that was the job, if he came back to the NFL, that he would be targeting. Because of Justin Herbert, because of the marketplace, going back to California with his wife, it had a lot of different things. There were various rumblings through the course of time about the Bears potentially making a change. They actually had multiple days of meetings after the season last year involving a bunch of different people, obviously including Kevin Warren and Ryan Polls, ownership, as well as Matt Eberflus at times. And the conclusion that they came to and based upon how they finished going six and two, I believe it was down the stretch and played a lot better on defense with Flus call in the plays and after the Montez sweat trade was that they were going to make a change with the offensive side of the football firing Luke Getzey and up hiring Shane Waldron. Obviously on a bunch of different fronts that did not work out the way that the Bears were hoping it was going to. Would Jim Harbaugh have had an interest in a team that he played for in the 1980s?
I'm sure. I mean, there were a lot of different possibilities that come up through the course of time and in conversations with different people. What I can tell you though was from a very, very, very early stage, what I was hearing from reliable people was if Jim Harbaugh is coming back, he's going to LA. He obviously interviewed for the Falcons job, too, but the Chargers was the one he got, and it's worked out well for all parties so far.
All right, so then let's talk about the here and now. I've said to you multiple times and said to here in this microphone, certainly when you see last night another 30 point effort from the Lions offense that includes stout running, smart play calling, high level quarterback play that Ben Johnson dialing up plays to beat the Packers is exactly what the Chicago Bears could use. Is he, based on your thoughts, knowledge, information, the main target for the Bears, or there are other ones that they've got in mind right now, Tom? I would say they're still in the early stages, Rich, of that process and doing research on a bunch of different candidates, both the ones that are the logical next man up type of guys, as well as some of the people are not thinking about and may not just be a current NFL coordinator. However, as I mentioned on Game Day Morning last week, absolutely I anticipate that Ben Johnson is going to be a person of interest in this search. It is going to be as much Ben Johnson selling himself to the Bears as much as it's going to be the Bears having to sell themselves to Ben Johnson.
This is not a guy who's trying to get the perfect job, but he does want to make sure that there is alignment and the opportunity to have long-term success. You've got a quarterback there in Caleb Williams who we have seen the flashes from. We've seen him play pretty good football. There is talent on the roster. They've got somewhere around $100 million in cap space, depending where the cap ends up landing next year. They've got extra draft picks. Remember, they've still got Carolina's second rounder coming to them. And they've got, again, a quarterback that you can build around for years to come. There's a lot of pieces of the equation that are there, but the Bears are going to be methodical in this process.
And Ben Johnson is going to thoroughly analyze this. The reasons, two years ago, David Tepper had a plane waiting to take him to Charlotte. He quite possibly was going to be offered and accept that job.
Decided the night before, you know what, I don't feel good about it. His wife was expecting at the time. They loved Detroit. Ben had not been to the playoffs. He wanted to see that thing through with Dan Campbell. So, we came back last year. He was a strong candidate for the Washington Commander's job, somebody that they were going to target. But going through the entire, the playoff run that they did, and then based on the cadence of how these interviews work, having to go and try to do an interview the day after the Lions had lost that game in San Francisco, you know, he just decided this was not the right time for him either.
Is this going to be the year? What I would tell you is Ben Johnson's in a much better place to make those decisions now. He is far further along in terms of the feeling of readiness to be a head coach, but he's also still happy in Detroit. He makes a good living. He loves the job there. He loves Dan Campbell, loves the city of Detroit, and wants to make another run. In other words, you know, this is not, this is the rare guy, Rich, who's not just going to take a job because he wants a job so bad.
He's already pulled back in each of the past two cycles. The only other guy in recent memory I can remember doing it this way on the head coaching side was D'Amico Ryans, who the Vikings wanted to bring in for a second interview when they ended up hiring Kevin O'Connell. And he, you know, got the call and just was said, you know what, I'm a one-year coordinator.
I think I need a little bit more seasoning. I think I want to go back to San Francisco. He coached another year. He took the Texans' job.
They've had a lot of early success here. Ben doesn't need to take a job. He'll be a head coach in the NFL eventually. Is that in Chicago? There's a lot of reasons and a lot of dots you can connect to say that this potentially is going to be a match, but we may not have, you know, firm answers on that until we get into probably late January. Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show talking about the coaching search and carousel that's going to start to spin off its axis. And so Bill Belichick won't be available for the coaching search because he'll already be in Chapel Hill game planning for Wake Forest, right, Tom? Isn't that what's going to happen? Belichick wants to take down Georgia Tech every year.
Is that what I'm to believe? Tom? There are times where you get a piece of information and I always sit back and evaluate and say, does this sound too dumb for me to put this out into the universe right now? Bill Belichick and North Carolina have had conversations. The idea that Bill Belichick is going to be the next head coach of the Tar Heels and be scraping to try to go six and six and get into the Cheez-It Bowl in Chapel Hill seems highly, highly unlikely at this point.
I would tell you this. Bill Belichick, obviously we've seen a lot of him doing his media stuff. He also has continued to prepare every day to be ready for opportunities. The focus continues to be on the NFL, but he also wants to have different conversations with people.
He visited his son at the University of Washington. We've seen him pop his head up through the course of fall camps and at different teams and seeing college programs. He's wanting to, like he always has in his life, continue to educate himself and have interesting conversations. I do think that there's a benefit, not just in having these conversations, having it be public that, hey, Bill really is passionate and wants to coach, but also people want to talk to Bill because last year the only team that talked to Bill was the Atlanta Falcons.
This is not, again, this is another guy who you're not going to just take any job. I think that geographically Bill Belichick would be selective. I think in terms of the program and the roster Bill Belichick is going to be selective. He's not going to, I don't believe, move to the West Coast.
I don't believe that he is going to take on a rebuild. There might be six, seven, eight head coaching vacancies, including the three that are out there. And if you go down that list, I don't really see Belichick definitely not landing with the Jets. I don't see him landing with the Saints. I don't see him landing with the Bears.
So it's got to be something that's not open at this point. It once again might be one or two or three jobs that are a fit from all parties here for Bill Belichick. I don't really see that North Carolina going from 73-year-old Mac Brown to 72-year-old Bill Belichick, especially in the current state of college athletics, the NIL challenges that programs like UNC have in this environment here. So I would say this, just being concluded, I know this is a long answer, Rich, but I would say, don't be surprised if Bill Belichick in the coming weeks is connected to other places and you're like, Bill interviewed there or Bill's talking to that person? This is all part of the process.
It's all part of the plan. Ultimately, we'll get a better sense as we get into January about what opportunities are out there for Bill Belichick. And if indeed we see him back in the NFL and chasing the career victory record in 2025. Tom Pelissero here, a few minutes left with our friend from the NFL Media Group, the NFL insiders on NFL Plus, which you can get right here on Roku, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. So the week 14 storyline that's popping out of your notebook. I'm now going to go macro with you, Tom. I will let you choose what we should be knowing from your brain and notebook next, going into the final throws of this National Football League regular season campaign. It is what, Tom? Well, I'll start out by addressing the game last night briefly because I don't know about you, Rich, but the wave of texts that I got from Dan Campbell is the best coach to Dan Campbell's a moron back to, wow, Dan Campbell, what a gutsy call.
It's fun watching this because it's almost as if people have not yet figured out. Dan Campbell is the rare head coach who is going to do the right thing all the time. Not the thing that works, but the right thing philosophically. He's not going to change. He doesn't care that when you do unorthodox thing and it doesn't work, you're going to be criticized more than doing the thing everybody does if it doesn't work. And it's not, you know, when it doesn't work going forward on fourth down, it's not that what a moronic thing to do at your own 30 yard line.
I always follow the various, you know, analytic accounts. Ben Baldwin's fourth down bot is a good one on X. And that was a go for it from your own, whatever they were, the 28 yard line last night on 31 yard line.
That was a strong go for it in that situation. You know, Dan Campbell is going to, you're never going to bat a thousand on this, but I think that what people miss about the lions and why they continue to approach it, it's not just, Hey, we're tougher. And it's, you know, all part of this machismo or whatever. It's also that they're good at it. And that's part of the thing when you, whether you're talking about going for two, when you're down eight points, going for two to win it late in regulation, going for fourth downs, so much of what we look at. And so much of the discourse that I see is this outcome based analysis. Part of what you have to take into account here is some teams are really good at this and some things are really bad at it.
So the analytics can say, Hey, go for it. But if you're a 30% team going forward in short yardage situations, versus a lions team that last year, they were over 50% on those four towns. They had a couple in the playoffs that didn't work and everybody criticizes Dan Campbell.
How could he do it? He's so consistent. Look at what they're working with right now on defense. They had three other defensive lineman rule out last night because of injuries. They got their two top linebackers on injured reserve.
They don't have Aidan Hutchinson. So Darrius Smith just got there. They're activating Jamal Adams. They had a guy that they signed the other Jonah Williams that they signed out the Rams practice squads making plays last night. It's unbelievable what Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn, Ben Johnson are getting out of that team.
Just, you have to get used to it. This is not Dan Campbell trying to reinvent football. It's him playing to what he believes is the right thing to do. And whether that's, you know, week 14 on national TV against the Packers, or that's back in the NFC championship game, you know, he's not going to change. And the lions right now are the hottest team in football, quite possibly the best team in football. And despite all the injuries, I walked away from that game last night saying, you know, this is a team that's equipped to win the whole thing. I think that the Packers, you know, they've shown it how good that they can be. You know, they've got a clear identity as well. Josh Jacobs has been part of this Renaissance of paying free agent running backs along with Saquon Barkley and Derek Henry because Jacobs has had a phenomenal year and you're finally seeing Jordan Love getting back to full health, which he really hasn't been through the entire season.
And some of the, you know, the freaky type of stuff that he can do. They had a couple of, you know, the, yeah, they let up a few fourth downs last night and then ended up being what cost them the victory, but they're playing hard on that side of the ball. That was, you know, power versus power last night with Ben Johnson and Jeff Halfley exchanging haymakers on one side and Matt Lafleur going up against Aaron Glenn on the other.
There's a very real possibility. I'm not saying this to besmirch the Philadelphia Eagles, but the three best teams in the NFC might all be in the same division, the way the Vikings roared back in the third quarter. I was at that game last week against Arizona. You know, Kevin O'Connell has done such a remarkable job with Sam Darnold in terms of not overexposing him, not having him have to make 20 above the line type throws in a game. They play to what they do well right now, which is taking away the ball on defense, running it, and then making enough plays in the biggest moments to continue to win football games. When they finally had to, they get, you know, they're getting booed middle of the third quarter last week after a three and out. They're down 13 points on their home field.
They kind of pulled the governor off Sam Darnold and he put some balls in really tight windows and trusted guys like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison to go make a play. I mean, you look at right now what the NFC playoffs would look like, Rich. The Lions would be the team getting the buy, but those first round matchups with, you know, whether it's the Packers going right now, then they would face the Seahawks in Seattle. I think there's a pretty decent chance the Packers would be favored in that game. And then we get a potential playoff preview because Vikings Falcons would be a first round matchup. We get that game on Sunday in Minnesota at, you know, what certainly seems like a critical juncture in the Falcons evaluation of their offense and of their quarterback position. I did talk to Bijan Robinson on the phone yesterday, and I asked him about the confidence level in Kirk Cousins. He said, there is no conversation in the locker room about anybody other than Kirk.
Fully believe in him. We got to clean some things up. We'll have more from that conversation on game day morning on Sunday, Rich.
And I wouldn't expect Bijan to say anything different here, but there's some underlying stuff. The strength of schedule has been really high for the Falcons. They've had some difficult games, but they got to play better when you score one touchdown over a two game stretch. That's not good enough.
That's not the standard for Atlanta. And they got a really big one with Kirk coming back to Minnesota on Sunday. Listen, that was an excellent review of a stupendous pull by you to focus on the NFC and that is 100 percent a story and also self-promotional about game day morning, a conversation with Bijan Robinson.
I always appreciate that. But out of all of what you just said, the thing I want to pull out, the people were texting that Dan Campbell's a genius, Dan Campbell's a moron. Are those friends, fantasy football friends, or are those sources in the NFL who are just texting you saying, I can't believe it? Are those NFL people? All of the above. A lot of agents in that mix as well.
The number of group texts that I'm on that are firing simultaneously during a game. Yeah, it's fairly remarkable. And by the way, on game day morning this Sunday, Rich, Sam Darnold is going to join me live on the show as he arrives at the stadium for, as he faces the guy that he replaced in Minnesota. Look at you. Fantastic. Great job.
Well done. Before I let you go, Mike Hoskins, our eagle-eyed coordinating producer, or Don, our director, pointed out during this conversation, is that an Elvis Christmas album over your right shoulder? Yeah, I realized I got the Christmas decor going here. I got the, you know, the little Christmas trees.
I actually ordered the Elvis Christmas album because on Amazon, that was the one that could get here the fastest. Prior to that. Okay. There you go. Hold on one second.
There it goes. Tommy previous album I had up that a lot of people picked up on was this Rick Springfield album. I thought it was a nice Easter egg. I put that up for a couple of days and I Googled yesterday. The number of people who were responding to me about Rick Springfield was astronomical. So I think now I'm going to have to get in a rotation back there.
A lot of times I have, you know, my friends pew, pew, pew is showcased back there. Fantastic. Good job. Good poem, Mike. No, it's just of all the people, you know, whose hairstyle you do resemble the most. It's not Rick Springfield. It is Elvis present. Young Elvis. You got to read the sideburns.
I can't grow the chops for the later Elvis, but this is like early, early, cool Elvis. Right? Yeah. I'll take that. Excellent. Movie Elvis. That's right. Yeah. We can't go on together with suspicious minds, which ridiculously is a wedding song.
Susie wanted to play at our wedding because she likes the song. And I'm like, did you, have you read the lyrics? Because that's nothing. We can't go on together with suspicious minds. I don't know. All right, Tom, thanks for the time.
Greatly appreciate it. See on game day morning, sir. That's Tommy. It's Tommy pig.
How about that? There are agents going, this guy's a moron. NFL insiders. It's pretty dumb. It's just like that line.
It's a, it's that line from a bugs bunny instead of monsters. Like NFL insiders are the most interesting people. Okay. Watch, use a sleep number smart bed. So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side. And right now, during the cyber week snail sale going on right now, save 20% on most sleep numbers, smart beds, plus free home delivery with any base limited time, only a sleep number store or sleep number.com C store for details.
When we come back, let's sit on the green bay Packers before we check with Cooper rush lots to get to an hour or two here. This episode is brought to you by progressive insurance, fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switched their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds because progressive offers discounts for paying in full owning a home and more. Plus you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, progressive casualty insurance company, and affiliates potential savings will vary not available in all States or situations for business owners like you, the American express business platinum card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions with its world-class business and travel benefits. You can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The Amex business platinum card offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, enabling you to flex and adapt as your business evolves and you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on Amex travel.com so that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex business platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.
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That's OReilly auto.com slash E I S E N O O O'Reilly auto parts. Audio executive Michael Del Tufo's lightning quick reflexes on a mixing board are a sight to behold with his combination of experience, nerves of steel and endless stamina based on an intense workout regimen. Mike's one of the best in the business. However, what happens when Mike gets distracted by social media posts, fantasy sports and just general daydreaming? At the Rich Eisen studios, soul and science tests reveal that Del Tufo's delays in opening a mic or playing a soundbite can last anywhere from three to six seconds.
Over three and a half year span, these daily delayed lag times add up to an inconceivable 78 minutes of dead air for a national show. But when Del Tufo reconnects with his responsibilities, his adjustment speed is off the charts and almost inhuman. Mike's hand moves from his lap to the mixing board in an unthinkable speed of over 21 miles per hour. That's five times faster, he'd like to think, than the strike of a copperhead. His fast twitch muscle fibers continue to amaze as his arms snapped up into the air to signal that it was my bad in just under seven tenths of a second.
That's just under eight tenths of a second. It's no wonder that this man has an Emmy certificate sitting on his mantle at home, even though no one's actually seen an Emmy. I'm John Brenkus at the Rich Eisen studios for Soul and Science. And Mike, you're still, you're better. You're like a fine wine.
You're like a fine wine. Hands of steel. Our producer, Ken Tullo, who produced that from back in the day in our previous iteration on DirecTV. He's here today.
Let's keep playing the Tullo greatest hits. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.
Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. You remember Hacksaw here in Southern California? That's a react to me. Headline. Headline. Remember he was, he'd give you the headline.
Yeah. Headline for Packers fans. I'm not worried. Not worried. You know, they are there.
I moved them up in my power rankings, move the lines down one. I had the Eagles above them. And at one point when I'm watching the Packers beat the Lions, I'm like, okay, I kind of saw this a little bit coming. Gave up 31 though. No, I, the Lions have one of the best offenses in the league. They're, they're scoring 30 on pretty much everybody right now. I know, but they gave up 31 to Green Bay. The defense is hurting right now.
They're missing other people. And Quinn Walker, we just got to, can we get him to take a chill pill a little bit? I know that's been the thing since he's come off of campus at Georgia, but he can ball out. Yeah. You know, I think Dan Skipper made a nice move. He got, he got hit. Was that Skipper who went down about 15 yards for his team? It could have been that. Maybe that's what got him vomiting in the NFL films coverage of Dan Campbell's victory speech. Did you see that one today? No.
Yeah. In the middle of Dan Campbell's victory speech to the Lions. He's yakking. He's looking over. He's, I don't know what's going on with Skipper. You know, he calls him out for vomiting.
It means he's actually like Skipper was on his knees. Oh man. Yeah.
I know. This is about the Packers. Headline to me is I'm, I'm not concerned for them to make a run. The question is make the Superbowl. Cause that was the concept coming into the season that this was their season to take that step forward, made it to the division round next last year. Can they make it to the Superbowl?
And they needed Jordan Love to be healthy for that. I think we can agree. The kid is all right. Physically right now. Correct. Can we say that he was making some plays last night.
He's moving around very nicely. He can make some throws and throw to what Christian Watson down the sideline. No, the touchdown one to craft. Yes.
Just cock the hammer right down the middle. Yeah. He put some stank on that one and they've got, can you say this? Their best running back in a long time. Like, like Jones was nice. I know.
I understand. And I thought, why are they getting rid of him? He's a, Josh Jacobs is more of a bruiser than that's what they kind of, that's kind of what they need. Yeah.
That's kind of what they need. Certainly when you're going against the team, bringing the thunder and the lightning he three rushing touchdowns again for him. This guy's unreal. Who is their running back from the Superbowl year? Who, who I'm on green. Yeah.
But ran upright. Who am I thinking of? Hold on. Oh, Ryan grant. Ryan grant.
Grant was nice. I mean, they, I'm, I'm just saying, man, you just, he, he, he had three touchdowns and then one call back in an OPI call in the air. And there was only two green Bay players with 10 or more rushing touchdowns over a six game span. Like Josh Jacobs has done right now. And his name is Jim Taylor guys. Oh, I mean, we're talking about Vince Lombardi's hall of fame running back. That's what Josh Jacobs is doing right now in a month and a half and for an entire season.
And that's the guy that you need is providing the hammer. If you're going into Seattle or you're going here to Los Angeles to take on the rushing touchdowns, to take on the Rams, or you're going to Arizona, because right now it sure looks like green Bay is with this loss going to be your six seed. They could be the five seed going into Atlanta or, or Tampa. I think those are winnable games for the green Bay Packers in the playoffs. This was a coach's assessment last night after the loss. Ultimately, I thought we just started, especially on the offensive side of the ball, too slow. I mean, we go punt, punt, fumble, then we score a touchdown.
So, you know, it's only a handful of plays that separate these types of games. And like I told our team, I mean, we're going to have to earn the right to potentially come back here. And it's not going to be easy and we got to put in the work and, but I'm confident in the resiliency of our group and that they're going to continue to fight and, and push each other to get better and stay connected. Because I do think we have a pretty good football team.
They do, man. They got a pretty good, they got a pretty good football coach too. They got some physical freaks on this team too. Tucker Kraft hopping himself, back up. He got smoked and then just, you're wondering, oh, is he okay?
He did a kip up, just like boom, like HBK. They're, they're talented, man. Yeah. This is a third place team in the division, which is why you talk about this being the most talented division in, in the national football league. Do you like them a little bit better than Minnesota or no? I look at my power rankings. Yeah.
I popped them above the Vikings. Does last night change anything? No. Yeah.
It does not. As a matter of fact, it makes me feel like I made the right move. Their record is one thing. They did lose to Minnesota at home, but they got the right mix, man. And you know, just because you can't figure out who's going to be the wide receiver with your fantasy team doesn't mean they don't, I mean, it doesn't mean they don't have talented players there. I mean, they didn't even have Romeo Dobbs last night.
Yeah. You know, that's why I'm just not, not concerned. I mean, injuries will always be a concern. Van Ness went out for a bit last night and you're, you know, you're wondering about, but then you look at the lines, they have 13 defensive players on IR and they're still winning football games.
Because the offense is kind of unstoppable. I was left impressed again last night. They were true.
It is true. They, they started slow. Pun, pun, fumble. Yeah. Against the Detroit Lions in Ford field where things are going to start fast. Can't do that.
It's tough. They got a 10 point hole pretty, pretty quickly. Headline. Green Bay.
Green Bay. Not concerned. Just not worried. I still like, watching 10, he just reminds me of 12. The way he hops around and kind of wings it and the last foot, boom. And that's a perfect way for me to put a button on this as Cooper Rush is about to zoom in here. Is, is just got to give it up, man. I know, you know, certainly from this chair, Gudekun's draft in love, handling it the way that he did with Rogers, apparently.
And, you know, Rogers needing a FaceTime to chat with him and all that stuff. I mean, it took two to tango for this relationship to turn in a certain way. But they have turned the page, man. They have turned the page.
They are young. They are good. They are physical.
That coach is as good as they come in the national football league. And you got to give it up. They are in the mix. They're going to make the playoffs and they're going to be somebody's problem when the middle of January hits.
You and I both know it. They're going to be somebody's problem currently residing in the NFC West and the NFC South. It's going to be somebody's big problem.
And they might, you know, the only question is if they get one and done by them, will they have an owner saying we're going to go all in next season? Wow. Just leave us out of it.
Sorry. Just getting that out of my system as Cooper Rush is about to zoom in here. He's doing us a service to zoom in. Joining us right now on the Rich Eisen Show, getting ready for Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals is the quarterback, Cooper Rush. How are you doing Cooper? We're doing great. Thanks for having me. You got it.
So let's hit the way back machine a little bit here. Cause you know, I'm a, I'm a Michigan guy. You're a Central Michigan guy. Walk me through the options you had coming out of high school there in the great state of Michigan, Cooper.
Yeah. Central Michigan was my only offer. I was happy to take it. Got looked at a little bit by Michigan State, but not much really. And kind of bounced around a bunch of camps in the Mac and, you know, Central offered and they're really, they're the only ones that we took it. So Michigan didn't offer you anything? Nothing from the University of Michigan to you, Cooper? No.
Huh? No. Who was the coach then? Who was that guy at the time?
Do you remember? Was it Brady Hoke? Was it Hoke? It might have been Hoke. Yeah.
Yeah, Brady Hoke. Pre gym, pre gym back in the day, right there. And so when, when you went to, to Central, how many, how many people were coming to your campus from the, from the pros back in the day, Cooper? Not much.
I don't know. We've, we've, we've produced some guys that over the years, it's been a good program. I don't know how much teams we're looking at and things like that. But we had a couple of players a couple of years ahead of me. We had a first round, first overall pick in Eric Fisher. We played one year with him.
I had a good receiver for a couple of years that teams would look at. So you know, it wasn't a huge thing of like trying to get there, trying to get looked at. It was just kind of playing ball.
Then it kind of happened. Did you, were you at the combine? Did you go to the combine, Cooper? Yep. To the combine.
Okay. So were the Cowboys interviewing you at that point in time? Were they on your radar screen?
Are they you on theirs from what you could tell? No, I, the only time I talked to Dallas was at the shrine bowl, kind of just in those informal meetings, you know, informal meetings, walk around the hotel lobby, things like that. That was when I talked to a Dallas guy and that was the one and only time.
Until you heard from them after the draft in 2017? Correct. Yep. Who was the one who called you when the draft was over to say, we'd like you to come to the Cowboys and try out for our team? Yeah. Wade Wilson was the QB coach at the time. And he gave me a call and me and my agent were like, kind of doing the math.
There's only two QBs on the roster. So, we're going there. And the rest, and eight years in now, with technically a second stint here with the Dallas Cowboys, how, how do you stay ready? And then you get, have success when you get in, like you've, you've proven a couple of times now, Cooper.
Yeah. I was fortunate to play a bunch in college, a bunch of starts that you bank so many reps and so many game situations and the nuances of the quarterback position, some of the field things. And you bank those reps in college over 50 games. That really helped me survive early on, especially as an undrafted guy, you're not getting a lot of reps in practice, things like that. And then, you know, you love the game. So you prepare, you got to watch Dak do it for all these years, which helps.
And then you're studying, you're preparing. Then you get a chance to kind of go back to those college days and remember who you are and just go play football. Well, it's interesting that you mentioned the number of starts you had in college, because that is kind of a conversation. If you, you don't mind me roping you into this one about, about preparedness and rookies breaking in in the NFL and not really seeing the field very well and the evaluations that quarterbacks get either in the media or the fan base, the snap judgments that are made on these quarterbacks are somewhat maybe unfair because they haven't had a lot of experience, but you were able to rely on 50 starts.
So you see what Bo Nix is doing in Denver. He had 60 starts in college. Brock Purdy is another guy who had darn near as many starts that you had in college. And it's interesting that you bring that up, that that actually prepares you to succeed in a league where you're, you're in year eight, Cooper, you know?
Yeah, I think it's huge. And especially for guys, you know, Brock was undrafted too, or maybe the last pick of the giraffe guys that are lower down like that. You know, I think, I don't think the starts get weighted enough sometimes and they, there's situational football, there's feel for the game at the QB position that I think is very hard to learn for the first time at this level.
Now there's some unbelievable athletes can do it and things like that. But for a lot of guys that experience you definitely rely on. Do you feel you, you haven't been evaluated properly in the NFL, Cooper?
Not really, not in the NFL really. I mean, looking back eight years ago, I probably wouldn't draft myself. But I always knew I could play and you know, I, I think I see the game well. And so just trying to improve on that. What relationships with Mike McCarthy that you're, you're willing to share about the conversations you have and how it is helping you, Cooper Rush? Yeah, it's been great having Mike in the, the QB room the last two years with him calling plays. He's, he's been in our room for a lot of the time and learned a lot of football already just in two short years with him. And it's a guy who's called plays for forever. And so you can definitely feel that, see, see the game through his eyes, through all his experience.
I think it's pretty cool. It's pretty special. What, what football have you learned from him? You got a specific example, you can throw my way here, Cooper Rush? Yeah, just really the route, route running and timing and how it times up with the football with the footwork of the quarterback. It's kind of his specialty and what he's brought to us. He's helped Dak and myself and all the QBs really with tying our feet to route running is something that we all kind of never heard about.
Never thought about, thought didn't matter that much. And then, you know, hear him explain it and see the proof of it and how you coach those guys tying into how you're coached is pretty amazing. Cooper Rush here on the Rich Eisen Show. What are your two cents on playing on Monday night football for the Dallas Cowboys after you play on Thanksgiving for the Dallas Cowboys and the fan base is beginning to feel good for the first time all year long and the concept of making a run here, Cooper, give me, give me your two cents and what you guys are talking about on that front. Yeah, me and my brother were actually just laughing about, you know, for whatever reason, the few starts that I've had, it's, I think they've been mostly prime time games for whatever reason. It's funny. My third Monday night game and whatever, 10 starts or whatever, which is pretty crazy to think about, but it's special. It's cool to play on Thanksgiving to get those two wins back to back and a tough, tough three game and 10 day stretch. Kind of got the ball rolling.
We talked about getting one in Washington and just kick-starting it and another opportunity Monday. So are you openly talking, making a playoff run here in the locker room, Cooper? Yeah. Coach said it the other day in the team room, you know, it's playoff football for us. You know, it's, that's just what it is. And the nature, the position we put ourselves in, it's playoff time for us. We got to go win. What do you say in the team room?
Give me, what else, what, what can you share about that? What do you, what do you say to you? Yeah, it's December and it's playoff football. You know, it's, we got to, we got to do our job. We got to win games to get in and we're kind of backs against the wall and we got to go do it.
Okay. And what, what does, I mean, the only, what's Dak up to with you guys? How is he involved with the game planning and being around you and being around the team right now? Yeah, he's still popping and he's around. He'll come a few times, you know, and it's always great to see him.
It's fun talking ball with him, have him in the room. But yeah, we see him every day. He's still around. Okay. Yeah. No, I said the only time I see him is he's sitting up in the booth with what appears to be an absurd amount of water in front of him, you know, but that guy can hydrate.
You know what I mean? Cooper. That's all I, but, but he is, he is around and he's talking to you guys, right? Oh yeah. He's around.
He's still around. Okay. And are you, does he drink that much water in the quarterback room too? Cooper? Is he drinking that much?
I don't know if it was that much. Okay. Very good.
All right. So, you're, you're looking at the Cincinnati game film. You're seeing what? Like what, who you're seeing? You're seeing what, like what, who are you circling?
What are you talking about? What's the challenge that's there in front of you for this Monday night game, Cooper rush? Yeah, they, a veteran group that's been with the defensive coordinator for a long time. So they're multiple. They can do a lot. So they understand their system and they know their system and they do it well. You have a premier pass rusher, you know, over there on the left side.
So it's a veteran group that knows what they're doing. So we just got to, you got to execute and bring your game with our communication and things like that. All right. Cooper Rush, I appreciate the time, man. Good luck to you on Monday night football. You're, you're carrying a lot of hopes of a lot of fans of the Cowboy fan base going into this game and beyond. Yes, sir.
Appreciate it. You got it. That's Cooper Rush, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Oh boy. Let's take a break. When we come back here on the program, the other games of week 14, my top five, a Friday staple, then comes another Friday staple.
What's more likely then comes Dave Annable of Lioness, who's in our green room right now. As many of you clearly know, I love going to watch football live. There's nothing like it, whether it's college football or professional football, there's nothing quite like the excitement of being in the stadium and game time tickets and game time picks through game time is exactly your way and your gateway to getting the seat that you want and the experience that you'll never forget. Game time picks is a new curation feature that filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats. So you don't waste a single second searching through thousands of tickets, the all in pricing feature.
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Shopify.com slash Westwood one. Mr. Brock with an old school gambling parlance. Are you familiar with the term cooler? Yes, if you're at a hot table and you sit down and all of a sudden the cards don't go your way, you're the cooler.
Do you believe that the concept of the cooler also can exist in sports? Sure, I think that's possible. Mr. Brockman, is it true that you attended Super Bowl 52 as a Patriots fan in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals as a Celtics fan?
Where are we going with this? Yes or no? Did you attend those games?
Yes. Can you please tell the committee the results of those games? The Eagles won the Super Bowl and the Cavs won Game 7. And Mr. Brockman, is it true that the Rich Eisen Show for the past four years has conducted a March Madness bracket challenge in which the loser has to wear clown makeup?
That's true, we've done that. Who lost this season? I lost. And the season before that? I lost. The season before that one? I lost.
And the season before that one? I lost. Mr. Brockman, do you think your history of bad luck will have a detrimental effect on the Rich Eisen Show as it heads to Washington, D.C.? Well, actually, I think that it's just... I plead the fifth. Right.
Mr. Brockman, what I mean by bad luck is any unforeseen mistakes or accidents like last time when the show was in Washington, D.C. Hit it. This is definitely not going to end well. Is this necessary? I'm out of here. Yikes. Medic? Medic? Mike Hoskins calling for a medic. Ken Tullo, is it?
Ken, who's in the corner? I think we got to get back in the hearing room. Yeah. I think we got to get back in the hearing room.
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Let's do it. Overlooking the steering wheel. Top five other games of now week 14 to look forward to presented by Sleep Number. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Richest top five.
All right. Top five most intriguing matchups for the rest of week 14 presented by Sleep Number starts in Santa Clara, California. This is now officially the last chance saloon. If the Niners are going to make the playoffs, they've got to start winning games and potentially winning out and win their division. And who's coming in but the Chicago Bears with now interim head coach. The interim OC is now the interim HC, Thomas Brown. The Bears have not won since they were in London.
Can they go and beat the San Francisco 49ers starting Isaac Garendo at running back? To me, this fascinates and I can't wait to see it. This is going to be a lot of fun. Chicago and San Francisco, Caleb V. Purdy won. Oh, it was the last time a first overall pick took on a last overall pick. I got to ask NFL network research for that one. I would bet never. Or the previous time the 49ers have placed a face to the first overall pick.
So just wondering. We'll see. That's number five, number four on the list. The two teams, the 49ers are going to try and track down Seahawks and Cardinals play one another. As we know, the Seattle Seahawks are winners of three in a row. And part of that stretch includes the game against the Arizona Cardinals in Seattle just a couple of weeks ago. Back come the Cardinals coming off of their loss at Minnesota.
Let's see what happens here. The Cardinals need to avoid the dreaded sweep at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. Let's see what happens when Seattle goes to Arizona in this one.
Next up, number three on the list. Kirk Cousins going back home and they need it. They've lost three in a row themselves. Six and six.
Once upon a time, six and three. Minnesota Vikings now at 10 and two. They win this one, by the way. They're now too clear of the Green Bay Packers who they've already beaten at home. This is big for their playoff positioning. This is big for their desires to try and win the division. This is big for them. Just saying, okay, Kirk, go come back in here and let's make life worse for you. This one's fascinating. I can't wait to see how the Falcons and Kirk Cousins handle this crucible of the skull chance.
Early window on Fox. Number two, right up the road down the 105 speed freeway. You hang a left on Prairie and you're at Bills against the Rams. And if the Seattle Seahawks were complaining about how many Bills fans were in Seattle drowning out their vaunted 12th man.
OMG. Is there going to be a lot of silent snap count practice up in Thousand Oaks, California up the 405. Then you go, I feel like the Californians and then you go down the one-on-one and then it's where you find the Rams training facility. Mike whose house?
Your secondary ticket market house. And the Rams have designs on the division. As we know, they've got to keep winning. If not win out, can they derail the rampaging Buffalo Bills win streak? Number one on the list is Sunday night football. The Rams co-tenants are in Kansas city, the Kansas city chiefs at 11 and one here come the chargers, Jim Harbaugh in Arrowhead stadium. This is where, why Jim has been hired by the chargers. They're going to try and toughen them up.
As we know, this is them. Let's go physical. Let's go downhill. Let's Gus bus it. Let's Hassan Haskins it. That's where they're at right now at JK Dobbins out.
Let's get Justin Herbert doing some things here in Kansas city. This is a legendary matchup now with Jim Harbaugh. Let's try and toughen things up for the chargers one more time in Kansas city. Can they take advantage? Can they be the team that takes a chief's team that's so close to losing and say, guess what you are losing that's on Sunday night football chargers going at nine to nine and four would be something else. If the chiefs win, they win the AFC West.
They've already clinched a playoff spot for this year's campaign. Go ahead. Do you think we need one more? Why not? All right, we'll get one more.
Okay. This is fun. Last time they played one another two weeks ago, Thursday night snowing like crazy. Jamis Winston doing crazy things and being Jamis Winston Steelers losing in Cleveland. George Pickens complaining about the snow talking about how the snow is a difference between these two teams being any good. And in case you think that George Pickens has heard from his coach to say, kind of knock things off, tone it down a little bit. He was asked about facing Greg Newsome again, just two weeks after Greg Newsome was taking care of business best he could against George Pickens.
And here was the response. Dr. Greg Newsome at all today, before the game, I mean, or anything? I don't even know who that is. I don't even know who that is. George Pickens. I don't even know who that is.
It's like that Mariah Carey thing where I don't know her. Unbelievable. Russ coming off of a 400 yard performance against another team from Ohio. I'm looking forward to this one. Browns versus the Browns trying to sweep the Steelers coming off of that Monday night near win in Denver. Those are my top five most intriguing matchups of week 14 presented by sleep number.
And now during their cyber week sale save 20% on most sleep number smart beds plus free home delivery with any base limited time to find a store near you visit sleep number.com. I mean the other games that could have made the list here, I mean, the Jets and the Dolphins always play crazy ass games. That's true. But the Jets are three and nine and whatever, you know, the Dolphins need to keep winning to have any glimmer of hope happening. I guess, you know, what, what else, what else is there? Carolina and Philadelphia. I mean, Carolina has played well the last couple of weeks.
There's like the miles Sanders homecoming if he were healthy. You know, there's just too much by Mcgeddon. Yeah.
Too much by Mcgeddon. Dave Annable of lioness is going to come out and it's a what's more likely Friday phone calls 844-204-rich and more. Maybe now. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Maybe now is the time to bring this up in our 90 seconds. Here's the deal. The NFL needs for next year needs to realize that fantasy is a big part why the league is so successful and popular.
Okay. Week 14 is the last week of the fantasy regular season before the playoffs. And for most leagues, you know, if you're on the playoff bubble there, you got guys on all of these teams with buys at Washington and Indianapolis. All these teams that are buys this week.
There's six of them. You know, I'm talking about Denver, Indy. Maybe you have Drake May starting, but Houston and Baltimore with Lamar.
Derek Henry. The league schedule next year has to have zero buys on week 14. Zero. Figure it out. Get all the buys done in weeks five or four through 13.
And that's it. Week 14, no buys. You're never going to have a buy during the Thanksgiving week.
That's number one because you've already lost. You're already losing six teams to Thursday and two teams to Friday. That's eight teams.
You're not going to have more teams. You're not going to have like five games in an early window on a football Sunday. So that may be part of the reason because week 13 was Thanksgiving. It was late.
That may be part of the reason why week 14 had that in there. That said, I would press your case if you gave me a spot on the competition committee and I should be there. There should be a fan representative on the competition committee, and this is exactly where you bring it up. Thank you, Rich. I'm there for you.
There is an I in Rich and Izen, but I'm also missing people in the buy week 14. That's what I'm saying. Then you create your own leverage. There's no substitute for hard work and getting over. My world with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.
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